Skills Revised

Appraise. Will now be treated as a knowledge skill and subject to a DM wisdom roll.

Balance. For any skill point you put into this skill, you get three ranks.
The terrain in which battles take place might be subject to balance checks; each turn one in is melee or one moves more than ½ movement in such terrain requires a check. Failure means one can only move by ½, or one attacks at a –4 to-hit. Failure by 5 means one has tripped. If one cannot fail by five, then on a die roll of 1 you must make a dex. check at DC 10 to avoid falling.

DC 5 moderate under-brush, broad stairs, slightly uneven or rocky terrain

DC 10 heavy under-brush, 30’ incline, sharp stairs, very uneven or rocky terrain

DC 15 a pinnacle of a rock, a 2.5”-6” ledge, 50’ incline

DC +5 very low light

Also, you can use ranks in this skill to avoid a ‘Trip’ attack.

Animal Empathy. Is now incorporated into ‘Animal Handling’. Charisma remains the modifier.

Battle sense. This skill is obsolete.

Bluff. See “Wisdom” article for details of changes.

Decipher Script. Now incorporated in the ‘Linguist’ knowledge-based skill.

Diplomacy. Also known as ‘Persuasion’. Class skill for clerics, paladins, bards.

Forgery. Also known as the ‘Scribe’ craft skill.

Handle Animal. Now encompasses ‘Animal Empathy’.

Innuendo. Now incorporated into ‘Sense Motive’.

Intuit Direction. Now incorporated into ‘Wilderness Lore’.

Jump. Combined with swim. Or, alternatively, you may put one point in for three ranks.

Perform. Also known as ‘Entertain’. Can be used in situations involving just one person. To raise another person’s reaction, the DC is 10 + level of the person modified by wisdom. You need at least 5 minutes to use this skill. Class skill for bards.

Read Lips. Trained only.

Smell. You can use the tracking feat using this sense as stated in the DMG. You can also sense and sometimes identify monsters within the vicinity. Wisdom modifier. Whether it is treated as a ‘Class Skill’ is dependent on race: it is a racial skill of elves; half-elves and halflings have a base modifier of –5 and considered cross-class. All other humanoids are –10. Typical monsters that have heightened smell are orcs, dragons, minotaurs, and gnolls.

DC 10 sense creatures

DC 20 know direction

DC 30 pinpoint target as blind-sight

DC +1 every 5’ (expect first 5’)

DC +5 in light wind (except directly downwind)

DC +15 in moderate wind (except directly downwind)

If first check is successful:

DC 10 identify common creatures

DC 15 identify uncommon creatures

DC 20 identify rare creatures

DC 25 identify very rare, or unique creatures

DC –5 if very familiar with creature type

DC +5 if unfamiliar

DC impossible if creature type is unknown.

Speak Languages. One rank to know language somewhat. To understand what is spoken or to try to communicate something is DC 10 modified by intelligence. Of course, you can communicate something simple without using language, but that has nothing to do with this skill. Charisma is penalized at –2 at this point. Two ranks into any one language means you understand the language fluently. One extra rank is needed to understand the written form of a language you already know. Bonus: you only need to put in one rank for each alphabet. Example, if you have one rank in both dwarven and gnomish languages, you only need one more rank to be able to read them both. You automatically know how to read and speak fluently the one or two languages you start off with.

Swim. Combined with jump. Or alternatively, you get three ranks for every one point you put into it.

Wilderness Lore. Encompasses ‘Intuit Direction’ skill, ‘Nature’ knowledge skill, and such things as fire building, hunting, fishing, weather sense, and other basic survival skills.

The Mechanics of Wisdom

    Rule: common sense. This roll is extended in those situations which for whatever reason, you as the player has misjudged a scenario or has been unaware of important extenuating circumstances. Examples include trying to jump a 15-foot wide pit, unaware that your character has a low chance of succeeding. This roll will apply to any declared action that the DM judges to be within the sphere of “common sense”. DC is base 10; lower for the more gross violations of common sense (DC 5 for trying to jump 25 feet over a deadly pit with only a +2 jump modifier).
     Rule: wisdom (plus level) is the modifier used to protect oneself against the skill intimidation. This represents your ability to “see through” the attempt or your strength of will. Other applications: it is the modifier (plus level) for all non-magical charisma based skills designed to manipulate your emotions to make you do something you wish not to.   Examples include resisting the enamoring ability of bluffing, NPC’s diplomacy skills, the attraction of the opposite sex, and the mesmerizing effects of performance.
     Rule: wisdom is also the ability to inculcate experiences, to learn from one’s past. A player with higher wisdom is able to learn much quicker from their experiences. Thus, higher wisdom grants a bonus to experience points. For each +1, add 5% bonus; -10% for each minus one; clerics, druids, paladins, and psioncists subtract 10% from this bonus since their classes already compensate for higher wisdom scores.

    Sense motive; revised skill.
Sense motive is already a skill that involves the social scene in so far as it allows one to understand another’s intentions. Expand it so that it encompasses knowledge of any social interaction. Imagine how much one could gather from listening to conversation at a feast at the mayor’s palace. One could sense who was on top of the social ladder by noticing what important people were gathering around whom and what their reactions were with each other. You could find out who were allies or enemies by the way they glanced in your direction, the type of conversation they chose to make, and how they interacted with your allies. You could also judge what might be generally appealing to different people, what was motivating them to attend such a feast, or what were their psychological dispositions (personality, alignment, etc.) all by merely observing their behavior. Though charisma is the active ability to act well in such a situation, to understand the situation is whole other matter.
Normal usage: at the onset of any social encounter, you roll a sense motive check to determine how much information can be gathered about one’s intentions, motivations, and character disposition. This check is opposed by bluff.
Reduced usage: it is no longer used in battlefield situations except to determine motivations.

     Battlefield sense; new skill.
While dexterity, constitution, and strength help to conquer the battefield, who but the unwise would deny the place of understanding. Battefield sense is the awareness and analytical skill of deciphering the strength and weaknesses of your opponents, make judgments about their skill level, provide a pre-cognitive sense of when you are outmatched and should run, and figure out who are in command. After all, what good is being so strong when you can’t figure out who, where, and, most importantly, when to fight!   This is a class skill for fighters, rangers, paladins, monks, and rogues.
Normal usage: At the beginning of any combat sequence, all players roll for this skill. The following uses are available after three rounds of being in combat..
Determine leadership. You can figure out the chain of command and identify leaders. This is a base DC 10, but could be modified by, among other things, a leader actively using bluff.
Decipher strategy. You assess a combat situation and determine its true purpose (cut you to pieces, lure you away from or drive you toward a particular spot, rescue a captive, and so on). The DC is 15.
Know skill level. You can determine one’s relative skill level. You can get a feel for comparable competency (within one level), inadequacy or superiority (within three levels), and vastly inadequate or superior skill (beyond three). This can be used to determine ability scores (strength and dexterity) and skill modifiers. DC 20 (modified by bluff, see below). You must be observing the same opponent for three consecutive rounds. This usage can be used multiple times, provided an additional successful check is made after the third round (and three more rounds of observation).
Combat prediction, revised usage from “Sword and Fist”. You get a good though general idea of an opponent’s combat behavior and thus identify weaknesses. You can observe only one opponent at a time (and must be observed for three straight rounds). The DC is 20 +1 per level of your observed opponent (modified by bluff, see below). If successful, you gain a +4 bonus on your first attack roll against the observed opponent.

     Analyzing Research; wisdom-based check
The third great area of power in D&D is knowledge. Intelligence helps one to figure out puzzles, but how does one know when they are right? Ever knew a know-it-all who really was smart and knowledgeable, but obviously didn’t know as much as he supposed himself to know? How much more wise was Socrates who claimed to know nothing? Knowing one’s limits to what one knows is a powerful component to any field of study.   Wisdom allows one to know when he really does knows something as a fact, or when he is just guessing.
Normal usage: Whenever a player rolls a knowledge check, the DM rolls a secret wisdom check. The DC analyzing research check is base 15 for success modified by wisdom.
Knowing limitations. If the player fails his knowledge check, but makes his wisdom check, the player gains some knowledge as to why he doesn’t know or where he could go to find out the answer. Otherwise, in the case of a failed wisdom check, no new information can be gathered.
Chance of error. There are several levels of “knowing”, i.e. when one makes a knowledge check. If the DM simultaneously makes the wisdom check, then the player really knows what information he has gathered (he has demonstrable proof). However, if he does not make his wisdom check, he is only “guessing”, and the player doesn’t know whether it is correct or not. When the player makes a knowledge check but fails his analyzing research check by more than 10, the DM feeds him mistaken information.

     Bluff, expanded skill
Bluff has been transformed and expanded by the new rules above.
Hide motives, expanded usage. The bluff check no longer is limited to getting someone to believe a lie you are making, but also to mask the true motives you have when you are not lying. Under the expand rules above, the sense motive skill allows one to peer into the inner psyche of a person, but the bluff skill is the defense against such penetration. The bluff check, in this sense, is always on in social circumstances.   In other words, someone with a low bluff is fairly easy to read, i.e. “wears her emotions on her cuff”, but someone who has a high bluff is “hard to read”.
Combat bluffing, expanded usage. You can try to deceive your opponent’s Battlefield Sense by bluffing in combat, i.e. “playing down”, “showing off”, or feinting combat styles. By taking a –1 penalty to one’s attack bonus and beating an opponents battlefield sense score, you negate the effects of combat prediction and the opponent receives false information on her know skill level.

Level Reports

List of improved skills

List of added feats

List of any other class features that are changed, revised, added: this includes spells, hit dice, special skills, etc.

A story of how you plan on practicing for each of these revisions.

Copy of player character sheet.

The new changes will not take effect for passing a level until level report has been submitted